Mechanism for operating work-supports.



L. A. UASGRAIN.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING WORK SUPPORTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25, 1911. 1, 1 1 2, 1 95, v Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

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L. A. GASGRAIN.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING WORK SUPPORTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAILZS, 1911. 1 1 1 2 1 95 Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

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OTO-LITHO WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

LOUIS A. CASGRAIN, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING WORK-SUPPORTS.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LoUIs AVOASGRAIN, a citizen of the United States, resid ng at Beverly, in the county of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Mechanisms for Operating Work-Supports, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to mechanisms for operating work supports and is of especial utility in machines for inserting fastenings in boots and shoes.

Machines of this character usually include mechanism for moving the work support to cause it to clamp the Work against the work abutment while the fastening is being insorted and to release it again after the fastening has been driven in order to permit the work to be moved over the support into position to receive the next fastening. This mechanism usually includes also a locking device or clutch which operates to compensate for variations in the thickness of the work and thereby to insure substantial uniformity in the work releasing movements of the work support.

The present invention provides a novel mechanism for effecting intermittent driving connections between the work support and a power driven member of a machine which, while having other advantages, is especially adapted for use in high speed machines for inserting fastenlngs. The characteristics of this mechanism to which is due its especial adaptation to high speed operation will be set forth in the followlng description of the oreferred embodiment of the invention and tie novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a mechanism embodying the present. invention applied to a machine for inserting fastenings; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the parts of the locking mechanism; and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of certain details taken on the line 44, Fig. 1.

The fastening inserting machine shown in the drawings forms the subject matter Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 29, 1914. Application filed March 25, 1911.

Serial No. 616,809.

of an application for Letters Patent of the United States, filed in the name of Louis A. Casgrain, Ser. N 0. 452,755, dated Sept. 12, 1908, for an improvement in machines for lnserting fastenings. For a detailed description of the construction and operation of the fastening inserting machine referen'ce should be made to the above identified application.

y The mechanism for inserting fastenings is driven from a continuously rotating shaft having thereon fast and loose pulleys 4 and 6 respectively by means of which the machine may be belted to any convenient source of power. The fastening inserting operation is controlled by a clutch mechanism comprising a shaft 8, a roller cage 10, and a lever, 12, the lever being connected through intermediate parts, including a rod 14, to a treadle 16 in the base of the machine frame. When this treadle is depressed the clutch istripped and the operation of insertingfastenings begins.

The horn H is adjustably supported on a vertical rod 18 that is guided in the machine frame and is pivotally mounted on the forward end of a lever 20 fulcrumed in the machine base. The lever 20 is forked and near its rearward end the fork parts have on both their upper and lowersurfaces rounded projections or boss-like members indicated at 21 and 22in Fig. 1. A block 23 rests on the upper pair of bosses 21, the lower surface of the block being shaped to conform to the rounded surface of the bosses. A vertical rod 24 extends loosely through the block 23 and is attached at its upper end to a lever 26, which is arranged to be rocked by connections with a cam on theback side of'a cam disk 28 which may be clutched to or unclutched from the shaft 8.. The rod is surrounded by a long spring 30 which abuts at its lower end against the block 23 and at its upper end against a nut 32 threaded on to the rod 24. Below the lever 20 a collar 25 and a nut are threaded to the rod 24 and bear against the surfaces of the bosses 22. When the clutch member 10 is tripped to start the fastening inserting mechanism into operation, the cam 28 is rotated farenough to rock the lever 26 and depress the rod 24, thus compressing the spring 30, rocking the lever 20 and raising the horn H to clamp the work between the horn tip and the abutment 33 of the fasten- 111,-;

ing inserting mechanism. The cam 28 is thenunclutched from the shaft 8 and remains in this position holding the spring 30 compressed until the fastening inserting operation is stopped.

As above stated it is necessary to depress the horn during the interval between the in sertion of successive fastenings in order to permit the work to be fed over it. For this purpose a cam groove 34 is formed in the face of the fast pulley 4 and a roll 35 carried by one arm of a bell crank lever 36, which is pivoted on the machine frame, travels in said groove. The other arm of the lever 36 is drilled and split to receive a bushing 37 which is clamped therein by a bolt 38 passing through the split sections of the arm. This bushing carries an eccentric pin 39 that enters loosely a hole in the upper end of a rod 40. It will be evident that as the fast pulley 4 rotates the rod 40 will be given reciprocating movements of predetermined extent, which movements will bear a definite time relation to the cycle of movements of the fastening inserting mechanism.

In order to lift the rear end of the lever 20 against the tension of the spring 30 and thereby to depress the horn H to permit the feeding movement of the work, a mechanism is provided that automatically effects intermittent driving connections between the end of the lever 20 and the driven rod 40. For this purpose the lower end of the rod 40 is provided with an enlargement 42 having vertical slots formed therein at right angles to each other. The members of the forked end of the lever 20 straddle this enlargement and support rotatably a shaft 44 that extends through one of said slots. The shaft 44 carriesa block 46 (best shown in Fig. 3) that lies in one of the slots of the enlargement 42 and serves to guide the rod 40 in its reciprocating movements.

One of the friction locking members, indicated at 48, is positioned in the other slot of the enlargement 42 and is clamped, securely to the shaft 44. This member has an edge curved in theform of a spiral and has its side faces, adjacent to said edge, beveled. Another locking member 50 is secured in the lower endof the enlargement 42 and consists of a block having a V-shaped groove in its upper face to contact with the beveled faces of the locking member 48. hen the block 50 is raised into contact with its cooperating locking member 48 the sides of the V-shaped groove grip the beveled faces of the part 48', thus locking the two parts together for movement with the rod 40. It should be noted that at the time this driving eonnecpoint lying in the line of movement of the part 42, and in this case directly in the path of movement of said part. The shaft 44 in turn transmits this motion to the end of the lever 20 through surfaces that also he in the plane of movement of the driven member 42. This construction greatly reduces the tendency that otherwise would be present for the locking member 48 to turn about its axis and slip along the V-shaped groove of the block 50.

It is desirable that the. locking engagement between the parts 48 and 50 shall take place at the same point in each stroke of the rod 40. It is for this purpose that the locking device 48 is given its peculiar shape. For this purpose also the shaft 44 carries the pinion 52 fixed thereto at one side of the enlargement 42. This pinion meshes with a rack 54 that is mounted to slide freely in a casing 56 fixed to the lever 20. The end of the shaft opposite to that on which the pinion is mounted is extended beyond the lever 20 and is encircled by a spring 58 having one end attached to the lever 20 and its other end fastened to a clamp 00 seoured on the end of the shaft. This spring tends to turn the shaft and parts secured thereto in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1. frame at 64 and has its lower end curved as shown in Fig. 2 to extend under and form an abutment for the end of the rack This arm may be adjusted relatively to the frame by means of a bolt 66 threaded through a projection of the arm in position to bear against a portion of the frame.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, it will be evident that when the clutch controlling lever is tripped and the fastening inserting operation is started, the strong spring 30 will depress the rearward end of the lever 20 and raise the horn into contact with the work. This movement will carry the shaft 44 downwardly and since the rack 54 is held against downward movement by the abutment 62, the pinion 52 meshing with said rack will cause the shaft and spiral member 48 to rotate in a counterclockwise direet-ion and move some portion of the spiral edge of the member 48 into the path of the block 50. lVh-cn the rod 40 makes its upward stroke, the block 50 will come into contact with the locking member 48 and these parts will be locked frictionally together. As the rod continues on its upward stroke, the locking members together with the shaft 44, rack 54, and the end of the lever 20 will be raised against the action of the spring 30, thus depressing the horn. This movement is timed by the shape and position of the cam in the pulley 4 to take place at the instant in the cycle of movements of the fastening inserting mechanism at which the work should be fed.

An arm 62 is pivoted to the the horn now engages is as thick or thicker than the portion previously resting thereon) and arrests the movement of the lever 20. As the rod continues on its downward stroke, the block 50 will release the spiral member 48 whereupon the spring 58 will immediately act to rotate the shaft 44, pinion 52 and locking member 48 ba'ckwardly or in a clockwise direction until the rack strikes its abutment 62. It will be evident that in case the portion of the work now positioned over the horn is of thesame thickness as the portion to which the horn] previously was adjusted, then the horn will strike the work at the same instant that the end of the rack strikes the abutment 62 and consequently no further adjusting movement of the spiral locking member48 will take place. In case the horn now comes into contact with a part of the work that is thinner than that to which it previously was adjusted, the rack will strike its abutment before the horn clamps the work. The further downward movement of the rod 40 then will release the locking member 48 and as the horn is raised into contact with the work, a further rotation of the locking member 48 in a counter-clockwise direction will take place to compensate for the change in the thickness of the work. It will be clear from this consideration of the operation of the mechanism that after the locking member 48 has moved into operative position, which it does when the horn rises into contact with the work, further rotation about its axis will take place only when there is a change in the thick ness of the stock. Since these changes are very slight, the locking member usually will be found in adjusted position ready for engagement with the block 50. This is a feature admirably adapting this mechanism for use in high speed machines.

The locking member 48, between the extreinities of its friction surface, has an edge lying in the curve of a true spiral; that is, a curve generated by a point in moving angularly about a center at a uniform rate while constantly receding from said center. This construction and the connections above described for moving the locking member cause its edge always to intersect the line of movement of the rod 40 at the same point whatever may be the position of the horn within its working limits. (It will be understood that in Fig. 1 the parts are shown in their normal or inoperative positions.) Suppose, for example, that the edge of the locking member 48 intersects the line of movement of the rod 40 at a point oneeighth of an inch from the upper limit of the strokeof the block 50,. so that looking engagement between said members takes place at that point, if now the horn is moved up or down in adjusting itself to the work, the member 48 will be so moved automatically that its edge will still intersect the line of movement of the rod 40 at the same point. If the movement of the horn is up, the shaft 44 will be lowered and the spiral member 48 will be rotated to bring a new point on its edge into the line of movement of the rod 40, which point will have a radius vector shorter than that of the point previously I on said line by an amount equal to the extent of downward movement of the shaft. The working portion ofthe stroke of the rod, therefore, is maintained at one-eighth of an inch regardless of changes in the thickness of the work. To state the arrangement in other words, if a fixed point in the line of movement of the rod 40 above the axis of the shaft 44 be taken as the point from which to measure, then the distance between this point and the axis of the shaft 44 plus the distance between said axis and the point in said path, at which the edge of the spiral member 48. intersects it, is constant. The spiral looking device, therefore, always fills the space between the lever 20 and the point in the stroke of the driven member at which it is desired to have the driving connection effected. It will be obvious that the result secured by this arrangement may be effected by other means than that shown and such means are considered as falling within the scope of this invention.

It may be desirable to vary the extent of the releasing movement of the horn and this result may be obtained by turning the bushing 37 in the lever 36. The effect of such an adjustment obviously is to raise or lower the rod 40 and therefore to shift the limits of the stroke of the 'block 50 longitudinally of the line of movement of the latter. If the adjustment of the other parts remains unchanged the effect of this shifting of the stroke is to cause the driving connection between the locking members to take placeat an earlier or later point inthe stroke of the block 50 and therefore to make a greater or less portion of said stroke operative for moving the horn. It should be noted that the slotted construction of the enlargement 42 and the devices for guiding the same relative to the lever 20 constitute what is frequently termed a pin and slot connection between the lever 20 and the rod 40. This type of connection will be referred to in certain of the claims.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim aS new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is y 1. In a machine for successively inserting fastenings, the combination with a work abutment and a work support which is spring pressed normally into work clamping relation to said abutment when the machine is operating, of means for intermittently effecting through the work support a uniform depression of the work to permit the work to be fed between the successive fastening inserting operations, ctmnarising a power driven member having a uniform stroke, a member connected to said work support, said members being disconnected during the fastening inserting operation, and means for intermittently locking said members together always at the same point in the stroke of said power driven member, said locking means comprising a part of variable dimensions moved by the relative movement of said members as different work thicknesses are clamped, to bring the appropriate dimension into operative relation to said members.

2. In a machine for successively inserting fastenings, the combination with a work abutment and a work support which is spring pressed normally into work clamping relation to said abutment when the machine is operating, of means for intermittently effecting through the work support a uniform depression of the work to permit the work to be fed between the successive fastening inserting operations, comprising a power driven member having a uniform stroke, a member connected to said work support, said members being disconnected during the fastening inserting operation,

"and means for intermittently locking said members together always at the same point in the stroke of said power driven member, said locking means comprising a part of variable dimensions and connections be tween said part and one of said members whereby the relative movement of said members, as different work thicknesses are clamped, serves to bring the appropriate dimension into operative relation to said members.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a work abutment, a work support, a spring and means for bringing said spring into operative relation to said work support to cause said work support to be pressed normally into work clamping relation to said abutment when the machine is operating, of means for intermittently effecting through the work support a uniform depression of the work to permit the work to be fed between the successive fastening inserting operations, comprising a power driven member having a uniform stroke, a member connected to said work support, said members being disconnected during the fastening inserting operation, and means for intermittently locking said members together always at the same point in the stroke of said power driven member, said locking means comprising a part of variable dimensions moved by the relative movement of said members, as different work thicknesses are clamped, to bring the appropriate dimension into operative relation to said members, and means, connected to said spring applying means and moved into operative position when said spring is caused to act upon said work support, for effecting the relative movement of said part and said members.

4. In a machine of the class described the combination with a work support and a power driven member, of a rotary device having an eccentric surface automatically brought into intermittent driving engagement with said member at a point in the path of movement of said member, said device being supported at a point in the line of movement of said member, and means for transmitting motion from said device to said support.

5. In a machine of the class described the combination with a support and a reciprocating power driven member, of means for effecting an intermittent driving connection between said support and said member comprising a locking device auton'iatically movable about an axis intersecting the line of movement of said driven member into position to be engaged and moved by said member, and means for transmitting motion from said device to said support.

(5. In a machine of the class described the combination with a work support and a reciprocating power driven member, of automatic means for effecting driving connection between said support and said member comprising a device connected with said support and arranged to have intermittent driving engagement with said driven member, and means for supporting said device for pivotal movement about an axis that intersects the line of movement of said driven member and for bodily movement along said line of movement, said movements of said device being in proportion to the movements of the work support.

7. In a machine of the class described the combination with a movable work support and a power driven member, of a device connected with said support for movements about a plurality of axes in proportion to the movement of said support into position to be engaged and moved by said member and means for transmitting motion from said device to said support.

8. In a machine of the class described, a reciprocating power driven rod having a fixed range of reciprocating movement, a spring raised work support having a pin and slot connection with said rod providing lost motion whereby said work support may adjust itself automatically to different thicknesses of work, and means automatically interposed between said pin and one end of the slot for reducing the lost motion in said pin and slot connection to a uniform amount as variations in the thickness of the work vary the position of the pin in the slot, whereby said work support will be depressed the same distance during each reciprocation of said rod.

9. In a machine of the class described the combination of a work support, a lever connected to said support for movement therewith, a friction member guided for reciproeating movement in predetermined relationship to said lever, a locking device supported by said lever on an axis intersecting the path of movement of said friction member, said device having a friction surface to intersect said path and to lock with said member, successive portions of which surface are located at different distances from its axis, and means for moving said device automatically, whenever said support moves, to cause its friction surface always to intersect said path at the same point whereby said device, lever and support will be moved by said friction member.

10. In a machine of the class described the combination of a work support, a lever connected to said support for movement therewith, a friction member guided for reciprocating movement in predetermined relationship to said lever, a device supported by said lever on an axis intersecting the path of movement of said friction member, said device having a friction surface successive portions of which are located at different distances from its axis, said surface being arranged to intersect said path and to lock with said member, means for moving said device automatically, whenever said, support moves, to cause its friction surface always to intersect said path at the same point, and means whereby the limits of stroke of said member may be shifted.

11. In a machine of the class described the combination of a work support, a lever fulcrumed between its ends and supporting said work support at its forward end, a shaft supported by the rearward end of said lever, a driven friction member guided on said shaft for reciprocating movements at substantially right angles thereto, a spiral locking device fixed to said shaft having a friction face to engage said friction member, a pinion on said shaft, a rack supported by said lever in mesh with said pinion, an abutment for one end of said rack, and a spring tending to turn said shaft in a direction to cause said pinion to'move said rack against said abutment.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS A. GASGRAIN.

Witnesses:

J OIIN H. MOCREADY, CHARLES E. GRUsH.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

